If the Lakers Don't Get Carmelo Anthony, Blame Tobey Maguire

“Carmelo: with great power, comes great responsibility. Playing with Kobe will be your gift, your curse.”

It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers are hard after another star to pair with Kobe Bryant and make one more run at a ring, and they’re already prepared to offerCarmelo Anthony a max contract to be that special someone. In their meeting with Anthony yesterday, the Lakers went with a strong Hollywood angle in making their pitch to the Knicks’ free agent.

In addition to pitches about the TV market size, they brought in movie producerJoel Silver to present a four minute “trailer” about Melo’s life and had it narrated by none other than Tobey Maguire. Will Maguire really be effective, though? Couldn’t they have asked Jack Nicholson?

It sounds like we’ll know pretty soon if Maguire’s voiceover work did the trick, but honestly we’re pretty skeptical. It was hard enough to believe him as a superhero, and now we’re supposed to think he can influence professional athletes? Not happening.